Lafayette 'bear' sees hopeful signs in spring

Lafayette head coach Frank Tavani on the sidelines against Lehigh during first half action at Yankee Stadium in New York on Nov. 22, 2014.

Lafayette head coach Frank Tavani on the sidelines against Lehigh during first half action at Yankee Stadium in New York on Nov. 22, 2014. (CHRIS KNIGHT / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL)

Paul ReinhardSpecial to The Morning Call

The top 5 interesting moments from Lafayette's spring scrimmage.

Lafayette football coach Frank Tavani has his share of favorite sayings, one of which is "Don't poke the bear." By that, he means don't get the head coach upset and provoke his wrath.

Almost 90 percent of the Leopards' live scrimmage at the end of the final day of spring football camp on Saturday went just fine. But when defensive tackle Steve Mercado broke through to block an extra-point attempt, beaten and unhappy 305-pound offensive tackle Nick Zataveski shoved him. Mercado shoved back.

It was pretty much of a bang-bang play, but a "poked" Tavani unloaded on the two and the rest of the squad minutes later, going to the opposite side of the Fisher Stadium grandstands for a bit more privacy.

"We had a very good 15 days … well, more like 14.8 days," Tavani said later. "But at the end there, we had a lack of poise by several players who, in a real game situation, would have been ejected for the rest of this game and the next game. That doesn't show toughness; it's stupidity, and we don't play football like that."

Mercado, a 275-pound rising junior who made the play, said, "After you practice and hit each other 15 practices in a row, it's bound to happen. What happens on the field stays on the field at the end of the day and we're still friends. We talked, shook hands; everything is good."

No one got hurt, and Tavani had an opportunity for a teaching moment – and his players got it. Emphatically.

That skirmish aside, the 40 something-play scrimmage provided some interesting moments. Here's a top five.

1. Quarterback Blake Searfoss, who only a week prior to spring camp wasn't sure how much action he'd see after recovering from offseason foot surgery, did some very nice things – he connected for "touchdown" passes to three different rangy wide receivers: Rocco Palumbo, Tim Vangelas and Matt Mrazek.

"I wasn't sure how my foot was going to feel coming into spring," the rising junior said. "But it was good from Day 1. A bunch of new guys were stepping in, but I thought it was a good spring."

Searfoss began last season playing behind Drew Reed but became the starter after Reed injured his foot against Colgate, "Blake is where he should be with kind of experience he's had," Tavani said. "We have two of what I think are the best quarterbacks in the [Patriot League] and it's a luxury to have them both. How that will all go, we'll see when we get to preseason camp."

2. Palumbo, who played in 10 games last year but had just eight catches, had six on Saturday, and Tavani said the plan was to get a good look at the 6-3 rising sophomore who missed several practices with a shoulder injury but came on strong in the last two weeks.

"The ball was coming my way a lot, and it was fun," Palumbo said. "I think [the coaches] started trusting me more in the last week and a half. We have three big receivers who are all playing well, and we have some small, shifty guys coming in and they're going to be a good balance."

Tavani said Palumbo "is really coming along, and he's talented. He looked good at the end of last season, and you can see that [Palumbo and Mrazek] are so much more mature now and they're only going to be sophomores."

3. The defense started quickly on Saturday, with cornerback Matt Smalley blowing up a first-play pass, Mercado bursting through for what would have been a third-play sack if the quarterback had been "live" and linebacker Mark Dodd intercepting a pass on a ball tipped by safety Draeland James on the fourth play.

"This is our second year under coach [Art] Link and there's less thinking and more reacting to the ball," Mercado said. "I'm quicker and faster and stronger … lost a lot of 'gut' weight" during the offseason, he said. "Everyone is flying to the ball."

Tavani said he thinks his defensive unit this year "has a chance to step up and be a dominating defense. Mercado is in the best shape he's ever been in, and he'll be even better by the time preseason camp rolls around."

4. The offensive line is still the most critical unknown quantity, with guard Connor Staudle as the most experienced of the interior five. Only seven players were dressed for Saturday's scrimmage, although they will be joined by two that were sidelined (John Hoffman and John Lang) and three incoming freshmen in summer camp.

While the big guys had early trouble, they did make a positive showing in the running game, opening holes for running backs Deuce Gruden, DeSean Brown, Kyle Mayfield and Rob Speranza.

Gruden, the son of former NFL coach and current Monday Night Football color analyst Jon Gruden, is only 5-6 but is a muscular 190 pounds. Tavani said the senior "had a nice spring and could be a great third-down back. He hides in there and gets lost. He's one of the hardest working kids on the team and one of the strongest."

5. The blocked PAT was not the only low point for the kicking game. Only one field goal was attempted on Saturday, and Ryan Gralish missed that one from 34 yards. The Leopards practiced kickoffs prior to the scrimmage and didn't get any into the end zone. Smalley and Vangelas shared the return duty.

The bottom line was a good one for Coach Tavani. He saw some good things from untested players such as sophomore linebackers J.J. Conn and Michael Root and cornerback Parish Simmons (Nazareth), and that's what spring practice is designed for. Lafayette will open its summer camp on Aug. 11.